It's like asking someone to state what their health
was like over the past year and they say they were fine. Yet during that period
they had multiple flus, a broken leg, ran a marathon, had a parent die, went on
a six-week vacation to Thailand, joined a support group, and experienced minor
heart problems that now requires daily medication.

You know given the list in the last sentence that
their health and wellbeing took many ups and downs over the past year and that's
not captured by the word, “fine”.

Like your health, your engagement also varies.
Contrary to the annual survey that suggests 30% of employees are fully engaged,
I believe that our
engagement varies not only day to day but many times within the day.

In addition, our personal E-Zone is often a mystery to
us as most of us don't know the ideal length of time that we can sustain full
engagement with work.

Employees
show substantial fluctuations in their levels of work engagement – from day to
day and from task to task. Daily work engagement is much closer causally tied
to real work-related events and behavioral outcomes (including performance)
than a judgment that requires aggregating previous experiences over an extended
period of time… management needs to become more aware of fluctuations in daily
employee work engagement. Being aware of daily changes in work engagement draws
attention to daily triggers of engagement.

I appreciate his daily focus but believe we
would be better served by a micro-focus during each day, as suggested by the
E-Zone.

Having a micro-focus on
employee engagement

For most of us, the E-zone ranges from 5 to 90
minutes. When you suffer from procrastination, sometimes focusing on what you
can do for the next 5 minutes is a brilliant way to initiate and sustain
re-engagement with the task you've been avoiding.

Most managers and leaders are interrupted every five
to eight minutes, so perhaps their default ideal E-Zone is 5 to 8 minutes.

K. Anders Ericsson, writing in the Harvard Business
Review on
the making of an expert, found that top performers using deliberate practice tended
to work in periods of 90 minute or less.

Many years ago,
Eugene Schwartz, a well-known copywriter, worked in 33.33 minute intervals. He
believed this quirky working period was responsible for his ability to sustain
very successful copywriting over many years. The
pomodoro, based on a tomato
shaped timer, recommends beginning with 25 minute intervals.

How to discover your
personal E-Zone

I suggest your ideal E-Zone is best discovered through
personal experimentation and ongoing adjustments. I've been monitoring,
managing, and mastering my own E-Zone for the past four years.

I currently set my work periods for 12 minutes and I
strive for 20+ E-Zones a day. This translates to over 4 hours a day
of being highly engaged in the various tasks I am working on. My E-Zone has
been as high as 30 minutes, but never lower than 12 minutes.

Here are a few steps you can
take to find and cultivate your own E-Zone:

Be open, flexible and
experimental in your discovery process. I recommend you start with 20 minute
periods.

Know that the nature,
context, and roles of your work may determine the length and how many E-Zones
you can achieve in a day. I believe you can always accomplish at least a few on
any given day.

Get a timer. I prefer
a Timex Ironman watch because seeing it on my wrist is a good trigger and it's
always with me. The ironman reminds me that I'm in this for the long haul even
though I'm working in short bursts. There are a multitude of apps and timers
you can get for your smart phone, so find a timing mechanism that suits you.

You know you're in your E-Zone when

It's easy to start a new period.

You remain fully engaged during the period.

At the end, you know you accomplished something but you were
left wanting a little more time.

Flow into your E-Zone
with a dynamic balance of challenges with skills and abilities.

Record your E-Zone so
that you can monitor progress. Progress is very significant in creating and
sustaining engagement.

If you encounter
setbacks this may be a cue or clue to lessen the time or frequency of your
E-Zones.

Transform your E-Zone
into a source of giving. I make charitable donations throughout the year for
every minute I work in my E-Zone.

Employee engagement = good work done well
with others every day

I like the term E-Zone
because if you're playful, it sounds “easy” (E Z One or Easy One).

The E-Zone approach to work brings my definition of employee
engagement to life: good work done well
with others every day. You can increase your
engagement and productivity by working within your personal E-Zone every day
and many daunting tasks can be overcome one E-Zone at a time.

“What time is it
Mr. Wolf?”

“It's 8 o’clock
and time to fully engage with work for the next 12 minutes.”

Performance Management and Engagement

Performance Management and Engagement

By David Zinger

David Zinger believes engagement is both a right and a responsibility. He is devoted to advancing the New Employee Engagement. The ABCs of the new engagement are Achieve results, Build relationships and Cultivate wellbeing through daily actions and interactions focused on results, performance, progress, relationships, recognition, moments, strengths, meaning, wellbeing, and energy.

David has worked on engagement from Singapore to Saskatoon, Wales to Winnipeg, and Oman to Ottawa. He has devoted over 18,000 hours to engagement which included 4 books on work and over 1500 blog posts on engagement. David is the founder and host of the 7000+ member Employee Engagement Network. Connect with David at www.davidzinger.com or email him at: david@davidzinger.com